Austin Wilson is Living His Dream

Austin Wilson

February 21, 2019
by Justin Onslow

Living the dream means a little something different to everyone. For some, like Austin Wilson, it’s more about the journey than the destination – though that destination is very much dictating the way Wilson is going about his journey.

As the 2018 The Bass Federation National Champion and winner of the TBF Living the Dream package, Wilson was awarded full entry fees for the FLW Tour this season, as well as travel stipends for each event and a cash prize, all of which equated to about $120,000. He’s also running a wrapped Living the Dream Ranger. Why, then, is the Citrus Heights, Calif., pro living out of his truck and sleeping on the deck of his boat this season?

“It’s my doing,” he admits. “I want to save money for next year. This is what I want to do. I don’t want to go back to work. I want to fish.”

Wilson has enough money banked from the Living the Dream package to sleep in hotels and rental properties this season. He has the means to eat at nice restaurants, do laundry regularly and live what most of us would call a comfortable life. But money only lasts so long, and Wilson understands that living his dream – truly living it beyond this year – means saving money now. Being thrifty. Living the adventure so the adventure can continue long beyond 2019.

“I don’t really have any sponsors helping me out,” he says. “I won the TBF National Championship back in April, so my entry fees are paid for, and I have expense money too, but I’m thinking of next year. My hope is to be able to get some sponsors to help me out, but as of right now I don’t have any sponsors. My thought is if I hold onto it I can pay my entry fees next year.”

Wilson wants to fish professionally, and he wants to do it full-time. Until this season, he was working at Sysco Foods in California, moving and loading trucks on a 7 p.m.-3:30 a.m. overnight shift. Wilson doesn’t want to go back to that, though he says Sysco has left the door open for his return should he need to. They simply couldn’t accommodate the unusual schedule associated with fishing seven Tour stops throughout the year.

In order to continue chasing his dreams, Wilson decided to pinch pennies in the best way he knows how: living a nomadic existence that involves a little camping, a lot of fishing and as much adventure as he wants.

“The plan is to stay in campgrounds and stay in the truck, find a campground that has showers, stuff like that,” he adds. “I’ve got plenty of clothes with me. I’m ready to sleep on my boat the rest of the season.

“I have a couple ice chests. I go grocery shopping and buy ice and make sure everything’s cold. Every morning and every night I have a little propane heater, and it’s perfect for a frying pan. I’ve been cooking eggs and bacon in the morning. I’ve been doing chilidogs. I brought brisket out from home, and I ate that for a while. I’ve had burgers and salads and some potatoes. I try to keep it simple. I don’t get bored of stuff. I can eat hot dogs for a while.”

The 27 year old loves camping. He’s an outdoorsman at heart, and he’s been hunting, fishing and generally enjoying the great outdoors since he was 9 years old. To some, sleeping on the deck of a bass boat every night would feel like a hardship. For Wilson, it’s part of the thrill and just one small step toward fishing the Tour in 2020 and beyond.

The California native has never fished lakes such as Sam Rayburn Reservoir or Lake Toho or any number of lakes in the southern United States – lakes that litter the 2019 Tour schedule. And as committed as Wilson is to succeeding, he’s made a point to spend as much time on the waters of those fisheries as he can. He’s been from Texas to Florida to Georgia and back to Florida for the Tour’s second stop at Toho – pre-fishing, practicing and competing along the way. It’s Wilson’s way of committing himself fully to his dream.

“I’ve been on the water every day since before Rayburn,” he says. “I went down to Toho before it went off limits and fished there five or six days. Then, I drove up [to Lake Seminole].”

Each block of time at those lakes has allowed Wilson to get a feel for the fisheries, both in how to fish them and how to navigate their waters, which is especially important at a lake like Seminole that is besieged with stumps and standing timber. Part of being a rookie with no experience on the lakes at which he will compete this year is knowing where to run, and especially where not to run.

That extra time on the water paid off for Wilson at Rayburn, where he took 55th place and earned a $9,500 check. It worked out even better at Toho with a 24th-place finish and a $10,500 payday. Sure, he could use some of that money to live out of hotels the next several months, but where’s the fun in that?

“I’m up for the challenge,” he says. “How cold is it going to get tonight? Can I sleep through it? I kind of push myself a little bit.”

Wilson isn’t married, but he does have a girlfriend of nine years, Heather Kellerman, who both works and is in the midst of completing a vet tech program at Carrington College. She wants to travel with Wilson next season if he again makes the Tour roster, though Wilson expects that travel experience might be quite different than the 2019 iteration.

“She misses me, of course, and she wants to travel with me next year if I make the top 100 and I’m able to fish next year,” Wilson says. “Obviously, it would be a little different if she was with me now. I’d probably get a hotel or even buy a camper for my truck and go that route. As of right now she’s all for me doing my thing.”

A thing that includes finding campgrounds with laundry facilities and sleeping at boat ramps with well-lit parking lots so he can rig rods at night. A thing that might be a one-year adventure, at least if everything goes according to plan.

“Any way I can save a little bit of money,” he adds. “I’m not really cheap, but I want to be able to fish next year. As long as I can save some money and be able to pay for entry fees and stuff, I’ll do it.”

So far, he’s both making and saving money. And if he keeps fishing the way he has already this season, you can count on Wilson making his dream last for quite a while.

Khourie, Lingnau Win 2019 FLW South Africa Championship

Team Khourie/Lignau, consisting of Pieter Khourie and August Lingnau of the North West region, came roaring back on day three of the 2019 FLW South Africa Championship with a five-bass limit of 10.55 kg (23.25 pounds) to take the top spot and beat out Greg Schluep and Giulio Nolli of Team Secret VC for the title. READ MORE »

September 4, 2019

Checking in with Walters After the Cup

Walters, 41, of Grant Valkaria, Fla., is getting back to business as usual following his remarkable Cup showing, and we checked in with him to find out what his experience in Hot Springs was like and what’s on tap for the future – including a possible FLW Tour career. READ MORE »

September 3, 2019

Make the Most of Whopper Ploppers

“For me, I’m slowly but surely starting to get faith [in the Whopper Plopper] in other parts of the country, but from Hot Springs up to the Ozarks, that’s kind of my go-to,” says LeBrun. “When I’m up there in those Ozark-style lakes, it’s one of the first things that pops into my head.” READ MORE »

August 13, 2019

Green Has Experience of Lifetime at Cup

Winning $2,500 might be the highlight of a trip for a lot of people, but for Leroy Green, winner of the FLW Tour Marshal program at the 2019 FLW Cup on Lake Hamilton, the cash prize was secondary to the relationships he forged out on the water. READ MORE »

August 11, 2019

Henderson Holds Steady to Take FLW-KBF Cup Crown

Even with day-one leader Eric Jackson taking a massive lead into the final day of competition and 70 more of the best kayak anglers on the planet behind him, Clint Henderson did what he said he was going to do. He won the Dee Zee FLW/KBF Cup presented by YakAttack and the $15,000 top prize. READ MORE »

August 10, 2019

Jackson Crushes on Day One of FLW-KBF Cup

Eric Jackson is simply a hammer fishing from a kayak. The FLW Tour pro and owner of Jackson Kayak is fresh off an individual and team gold-medal-winning performance in the 2019 Pan Am Bass Kayak Championship (not to mention a third-place finish in the final 2019 FLW Tour event on Lake Champlain), and his five-fish limit of 98.25 inches on day one of the Dee Zee FLW/KBF Cup presented by YakAttack puts him in stellar position to earn another victory on Saturday. READ MORE »

August 7, 2019

Alan Reed Dishes on FLW-KBF Cup Practice

We caught up with Reed after his practice on Wednesday to get the scoop on how Ouachita is fishing and what the outlook is for the two-day event that begins Friday and runs concurrently with the FLW Cup on neighboring Lake Hamilton. READ MORE »

Previewing Dee Zee FLW-KBF Cup

For the first time ever, FLW and Kayak Bass Fishing (KBF) have joined forces for the championship of kayak bass fishing. Running in conjunction with the 2019 FLW Cup (on nearby Lake Hamilton), the FLW-KBF Cup will feature a stacked field of qualifying anglers all vying to take home a top prize of between $15,000 and $25,000, depending on final field size. READ MORE »

July 12, 2019

Big Little Boats

There is a massive surge in innovation in the fishing kayak industry, as evidenced by a showroom floor packed with canoes, kayaks, boats – and, in many cases, a combination of all of them – at ICAST 2019. READ MORE »

TBF/FLW High School National Champions Speak with Outdoor Radio Veteran Jerry Kripp

The Northlake Christian School (Covington, La.) bass fishing duo of Sam Acosta, of Madisonville, La., and Christopher Capdeboscq, of Covington, spoke with longtime radio host Jerry Kripp Sunday, July 7, about their win... READ MORE »

Review: Jackson Kayak Bite

In the burgeoning fishing kayak market, there’s still a pretty large gap, on the whole, between entry-level boats (think $500 or less) and the top end of the market. It’s hard to find a really good kayak that blends quality, stability and affordability for anything less than $1,000. READ MORE »

Gearing up for the All-American

With the T-H Marine Bass Fishing League (BFL) All-American officially taking off on Thursday, there’s still plenty of prep to do. On Tuesday, the anglers get their first access to the boatyard to load into brand new Ranger boats, and registration takes place in the evening. Wednesday is official practice when the 49 boaters and co-anglers will spread out across the Potomac River to take a final shot at dialing things in before competition gets underway. READ MORE »

May 23, 2019

Previewing the Potomac

Just two days separate the final day of the T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League All-American and the start of the YETI FLW College Fishing National Championship, both on the Potomac River. Given the time of year the pair of tournaments land on the fishing calendar, it’s fair to expect some big things from both events. READ MORE »

Young Wins Marshal Contest, Saves a Life

John Young of Canal Winchester, Ohio, walked away from his first-ever visit to Lake Chickamauga with $2,500. Perhaps more importantly, he left with a story he and his day-two angler, J Todd Tucker, will never forget. READ MORE »

May 7, 2019

Top 10 Patterns from Lake Chickamauga

The timing of the FLW Tour event at Lake Chickamauga was both a curse and a blessing for the top 10 finishers. There were plenty of fish to be had – and on a multitude of patterns – but the big double-digit females Chick is known for were hard to track down. READ MORE »